DETROIT (WXYZ) — The city of Detroit hosted a ribbon cutting on Friday for Wayne County’s first mental health crisis care center.
The 707 Crisis Care Center will be open 24 hours a day to anyone going through a mental health crisis.
Data shows incorporating a crisis center like this results in fewer people going to jail and the hospital.
I took a tour of the two-story facility, which is a first of its kind.
“Behavioral health has always been treated as the stepchild, not really health care,” Sen. Debbie Stabenow said.
According to Stabenow and Detroit leaders, mental health care is starting to change in Michigan.
The 707 Crisis Center in Detroit is a facility where anyone struggling with mental health can walk up any time of day and get professional help for free.
“We all know when the mental health system breaks down, too often, it’s a Detroit police officer at the point of crisis,” Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said.
The center is aimed at changing that too. Detroit police officers are responding to 39 mental health calls on an average day. Local emergency rooms have wait times upward of eight hours.
Now, adults and children can come be evaluated and stay at the new crisis center.
Safety was in mind while constructing every aspect of the facility. There are no hooks in the bathroom or spaces on the door hinges to prevent having to worry about anyone self-harming.
I toured the facility with Stephanie Rubin, who is part of a Detroit community group of people who struggle with their mental health. She told me when she’s had a mental health episode, she’s had to wait hours at a hospital to get care and months for medication help. Now, she’ll go to the new facility.
“I think it is (exciting) because when I first was having problems, it was months before you got service,” Rubin said. “I think it’s awesome. It’s giving people a chance to really have somewhere to go in a city where we didn’t have as many places.”
The statistics are staggering. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, clinics like the 707 reduce local hospitalization by 74%, reduce emergency room visits by 68% and decrease homelessness by 33%. State officials say more facilities like this are coming.
“That’s what we are putting into place by allowing people who need help to get help, not just sit in jail or sit in the emergency room,” Stabenow said.
It means a lot for people like Rubin.
“It gives me the opportunity to get myself together,” Rubin said.
